I had a test to determine my level last Wednesday. After sitting there for 5 minutes I was practically done, because I could understand some of the questions, but I didn’t know how to reply.

I was kind of embarrassed, but after staring at my test for another 5 minutes I knew there was no use in pretending for the rest of the hour. I got up and left.

That’s how I ended up in a level 1 class last Monday. Teacher Kim (that’s how you address teachers here; teacher plus last name) explained to us that if you were 6 times late it counted as 1 absence and 6 absences means you won’t be able to pass. She gave us the timetable. Teacher Kim: '1 October is a national holiday so we don't have class, but you'll have extra homework. 3 and 15 October are also holidays so we don't have class, but again extra homework.' The perverse satisfaction teachers get from giving their students extra homework if they have a day off, doesn’t only exist in the Netherlands apparently.

She finished her talk with 'Are there any questions?' on which an American girl replied that she saw an excursion on the website. 'that's for level 4, not for level 1.' teacher Kim replied. 'And what about the Korean cooking classes?' the American girl asked hopefully. 'That's also not for level 1' teacher Kim replied again and immediately added 'level 1 is going on a tea session field trip, but that's on campus;' i.e. we’ll lock you up on campus till you reach level 4.

Speaking of tea drinking: on the way to the cafeteria after class we met two very, very enthusiastic members of the international student association, who were organizing several activities during the week. Tonight there was a “tea party,” which wasn’t a tea party actually, according to one of the two very enthusiastic members of the student association. They asked us if we would attend and me thinking that “tea party” was a code for 'we have beer!' thought: 'why not?' and decided to go. I couldn’t put my finger on what was exactly wrong with the situation at the time, but I would find out soon enough that very same evening.

Together with the group I had lunch with, I arrived at the designated time at the so called “tea party.” The people of the association were super friendly and enthusiastic again and after we had received a sticker with our name and nationality on it, we went inside. I couldn’t find any beer so that concerned me a little bit. After 10 minutes I found out why they were so enthusiastic. I took a closer look at the t-shirts the members of the association were wearing and there it was: 'I love Jesus.' So it wasn’t an international student association, but it was an American evangelistic church which was organising the party. The meaning of 'actually it isn't a tea party' became suddenly clear to me. There I was; a convinced atheist surrounded by American evangelists. I was afraid they were going to talk about God the whole evening, but fortunately they were just friendly and didn’t try anything. I don’t have anything against religious people and I think everybody has to decide for themselves what to believe, but I’m allergic to people trying to convert me. Fortunately the evening was quite pleasant and I had a good time even without the beer.

The day after the party I heard from a Czech classmate how crazy they really are. He bumps into them at lunch breaks sometimes and they start talking about Jesus. They also claim it is a sin to look at women (if it’s true I’m going to hell at least 100 times already. The women here are gorgeous). The Czech guy was also at the “tea party” and brought all his Islamic friends with him as a buffer of some sorts, he explained to me. That made me laugh a lot. I’ve made a lot of foreign and Korean friends these couple of days, but I’ll steer clear from “tea parties” from now on.